This invention relates to an electric lighter for rapidly lighting cigars or cigarettes, particularly for motor vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,761 issued on October 6, 1981 to the same Applicant describes an improved cigarette lighter, particularly for motor vehicles, wherein lighting of the cigarette is obtained by actuating a tubular control knob which pushes an associated control rod to exert pressure on a pivotally mounted keeper which in turn is connected to a contact blade adapted to feed the heating resistance of the electric lighter.
However, this electric lighter has the drawback that its lighting time is relatively long and that it has no protective elements incorporated therein for interrupting the feed of power in case of a fault.
Further, the relatively great number of components used in the construction of this lighter, although they result in predictable operation thereof, reduce its competitiveness due to increased production costs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the operation of the lighter described in the aforementioned U.S. Patent by simple constructional expedients that may readily be carried out to ensure long life service and competitive production costs.
A particular advantage of the invention consists in providing a lighter the time of which is much shorter than far known lighters thereby to reduce the time during which a driver's attention is distracted.
A further advantage of the invention consists in the insertion of a bimetal contact into the central body of the lighting assembly so as to ensure adequate protection against excessively long incandescence of the electric heating element resistance due to potential incidental blocking of the lighter mechanism.